The Pacifik Image News

Due to regulations imposed by the Credit Card Industry, ViaKlix will no longer be supported as of June. We are to switch to Virtual Merchant. That's great and all. They can promise a more secure service for our customers.

BTW, the credit card industry raised their prices on PCI DSS certification just this last month. We pay $40 per month plus $175 for PCI DSS and a $90 service charge in May. this does not include the percentage on indevidual transactions. Add our Website Hosting and we pay $837 per year to take credit cards on our website. We pay over $745 just to take credit cards.

Keep in mind we are a very, very small operation.

Currently I am photographing cabochons to be added to our online store. I expect them to be posted by or on Thursday. So look for them, will you? And tell any friends you might have that make jewelry to come have a look.

After that, a selection of my faceted Gemstones will be posted for sale. These stones may cost considerably more than stones cut elsewhere in the world, but bear in mind that these stones are cut more precisely than most.

After this is done, I'll get to start cutting. I am so looking forward to cutting!

Our New website is up. I sort of forgot to mention it. More tweaking and information to come.

I just recently began a new website for The Pacifik Image using a different content management system (CMS). I'm in the process of tweaking it right now. First I have to strip all the demo stuff out of it while keeping all the functionality I might want. There is a lot to strip or modify.

The CMS is called glFusion. I'm not sure what I think yet.

The new site is built for content. We will still use The Pacifik Image Store as our e-commerce site. We will be able to provide more information about what we do and where we will be.

If you wish to check out the new site while we are working on it, you can. Just go to thepacifikimage.com/index.php

We started the Summer Season off with Summerfest in Logan, Utah. Thursday and Friday went as expected. We were happy to set up one space away from where we were two years prior. Sadly, Saturday, the money day, a weather system usually aimed at the Pacific Northwest, dumped rain, limiting the number of attendees.

The highlight of the show was really visiting with Family. Heather's sister and her brood arrived on day one and stayed at the fairgrounds with us. We had a great time. They stayed till Sunday. On that day the weather was, of course, perfect.

We had to change our original plans. We had planned to go to U-Dig Fossils to get some Trilobites and then head over to Spectrum to buy an hour of production time, but our Durango's Air Conditioning Compressor decided to die. We drove from 50 miles out of Logan, Utah to Pendleton, Oregon with it screaming. Luckily it didn't seize. We went home.

The aftermath of the rain: We had to reprint many earring cards that were destroyed. Worse than that, our oriental rug mascot bled onto most of the boards. We had to strip the fabric and wash it all and re-hang everything in time for our next show. Also, we had to redo the info board.

Since it wasn't a total loss, we did manage to rustle up some scratch and go to Madras, Oregon for the rock and gem pow-wow. It was the first time we attended the event. It will, most likely, not be our last.

The next show was Art and Taste of the Valley in Cle Elum, WA. We do this event every year. It was only two days. In the 13 or so years we have been doing it, we have developed a few repeat customers. This year they came through in a big way. We set a show record and a two day record.

Then came The Vashon Strawberry Festival. This was only our fourth year. We beat our record, but barely.

After that was the Washington State Agate and Mineral Council Show in Tenino, WA. We gotta lotta rock from the club. Good stuff. Dirt cheap.

On to the Maryhill Arts Festival. First time. Didn't make a lot of money. Got a lot of peacock feathers though, and a custom sapphire job. Beautiful Place. Got to see Ansel Adams Masterworks. Would love to do it again!

You can read all about Harbor Days below.

After that, the Fall Olympia Arts Walk was the worst Arts Walk Ever! One reason, belly dancers sealed us off from the public.

So, we faced rain on two important days outside that had adverse economic effects. Added to that, we took a record of 5 bad credit cards. Which is more than all the other years combined.

Was it a good season? Yes, it was a good season.

Friday: Mostly Sunny to Partly Cloudy. Temperature in the upper seventies. Business below average.

Saturday: Mostly Cloudy with scattered showers. Business average.

Sunday: Heavy Rain with scattered Sun breaks. Business Devastated.

Another year at Harbor Days. This year the weather people promise the event will be wet. Undaunted, we attend. This year we are prepared for rain. This year, we have a wider variety of items than ever before. Heather and I have been hard at work all Summer long. Regrettably our selection of rings is still small. I vow to fix this issue in the coming year.

It will be our Twelfth Year at Harbor Days. Please Join Us. We are at the Northernmost part of the event at Percival Landing, Space #115 off of the Northern Parking Lot. We'll be there till Sunday evening. Mention this blog and receive a whopping 25% off! And, by golly, that means even off my faceted work!

We started the Season with Olympia Art'sWalk. Even though we had less sales, sales were strong enough to make it the best Art'sWalk ever, and we have been attending for years.

The Kelso Bridge Market has begun. Attendance on opening day was low.

This weekend we work in Portland, Oregon. This will be the first time we will be working in Portland in ten years. We've never done well in Oregon. Oregon, you have a chance to redeem yourself.

New Items: Heather has designed a new style of beaded earrings. I have made some new copper plates and for the first time, Roycroft inspired Bud Vases.